22797: gariot: Delray Beach responds to PB Post article (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: GariotGreot@aol.com

CITY OF DELRAY BEACH

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release:  Contact: Ivan Ladizinsky  PIO
       (561) 243-7009
July 27, 2004

DELRAY BEACH MAYOR PERLMAN SENDS HIS APOLOGY TO THE HAITIAN COMMUNITY
FOR REMARKS ATTRIBUTED TO THE CITY P I O

The Tuesday, July 27, 2004, edition of the Palm Beach Post carried an
article by Meghan Myer regarding the Delray Beach City web-site offering
multi-lingual translations of City information. The article was
headlined: “Delray Web site doesn’t offer Creole translation.” The
reporter also quoted the City’s Public Information Officer, Ivan
Ladizinsky, as using the word “bastardized” when characterizing Haitian
Creole. The following is Mayor Jeff Perlman’s response to that article
and apology to the Haitian community:

 As mayor, I would like to apologize for a quote attributed to our
Public Information Officer in yesterday’s Palm Beach Post.
As part of a story on the city’s website, our PIO allegedly made some
very insensitive remarks regarding the origins of the Creole language.
I was appalled by the remarks and in no way do those statements reflect
the views of our city government.  (more . . .)
MAYOR PERLMAN’S RESPONSE AND APOLOGY         - 2 -
In Delray Beach, we take great pride in our ethnic and racial diversity
and as a community we are working hard to bring residents of all races
and ethnicities together.
I am very proud of our efforts in the Haitian community and proud of the
contributions that Haitian Americans have made to Delray Beach.
Just yesterday, I learned that our Police Department and its Haitian
police volunteers will be honored for their work together at a ceremony
at the U.S. Justice Department in Washington D.C.
The City Commission is striving to improve relations and as a result we
became the first city in Palm Beach County to print our election ballot
in Creole in addition to Spanish and English. Also, for the past two
years, we have purchased time on a Creole language radio station in an
effort to reach out to our Haitian community.
I would personally like to apologize to anyone who was hurt or insulted
by the newspaper story.
I also feel it is important to set the record straight. The Palm Beach
Post was inaccurate and irresponsible in reporting that the effort to
translate our website into other languages was an effort to reach out to
the Haitian community. It was not.
The translation service was discovered by a city commissioner who felt
it was a good idea to offer web pages in different languages not only
for our residents but for people all over the world who may be
interested in Delray Beach. The idea was implemented quickly at no cost
to our taxpayers as a convenience not an outreach effort.
(more . . . )

MAYOR PERLMAN’S RESPONSE AND APOLOGY        - 3 -
The Palm Beach Post acted irresponsibly by manufacturing a controversy
that did not exist. In fact, it is our hope to add Creole to our website
as soon as possible.
We apparently compounded the newspaper’s ill intentions with the alleged
insensitive remarks that were made and printed.
Again, I am deeply sorry and formally apologize to all those who
rightfully took offense. Those kind of derogatory statements, if made,
whether made in jest, by mistake or deliberately, run counter to the
values of our city and will not be condoned or tolerated


    MyDelrayBeach.com


 Delray site doesn't offer Creole


Meghan Meyer
Tuesday, July 27, 2004


DELRAY BEACH -- In an effort to reach Haitian residents, the city on
Monday added a translation link to its Web site.

But the site does not translate into Creole, the language spoken by 90
percent of Haitians and used in sample ballots printed before elections.

French, city officials said, will have to do.

"It's the same thing," city spokesman Ivan Ladizinsky said. "People who
speak Creole can read French. Creole is just a bastardized version of
French. It's a compilation of dialects from the islands."

Actually, according to a Web site run by the University of California at
Los Angeles Language Materials Project, Haitian Creole "is about as
closely related to French as modern Italian is to Latin." Haitian Creole
developed in colonial Haiti as a way for plantation owners to
communicate with slaves who spoke West African languages. It is mainly a
spoken language. Though French is taught in Haitian schools, about 90
percent of the population speaks only Haitian Creole.

"Some people might say that's a little bit of a compromise," Ladizinsky
said, adding that he does not know of a search engine that translates
English into Haitian Creole. "We feel it will be acceptable to the
Haitian community."

It would be nice for the city to translate the site into Creole, Haitian
community leaders said. But French probably will be fine. "Anyone who is
educated navigates anyway in English," Daniella Henry said, executive
director of the Haitian American Community Council in Delray Beach. "I
don't know if it would make any difference in Creole."

The AltaVista search engine link translates only the general information
pages posted in text form on www.mydelraybeach.com. Images, such as the
section titles "Departments," "News" and "Contact Us," are not
translated. Neither are city commission agendas, the minutes of
meetings, application forms, registration forms or public notices. News
releases, advisory board and election information are not translated
either.

The link -- a multicolored bar at the bottom of the city's home page --
translates English into French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
It also translates into Chinese, Japanese and Korean if the user's
computer has software that displays those languages' characters.
Ladizinsky said the city wants to reach growing Haitian, Jamaican,
Bahamian and Hispanic populations. He said he knows most Jamaicans' and
Bahamians' primary language is English.

"What's most important to us are the Haitian community -- French -- and
Spanish," Ladizinsky said.



CITY OF DELRAY BEACH

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release:  Contact: Ivan Ladizinsky  PIO
       (561) 243-7009
July 26, 2004
CITY OF DELRAY BEACH WEB-SITE GOES
MULTI-LINGUAL

MyDelrayBeach.com can now be accessed in English, French, German,
Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Delray Beach, having a significant
Haitian, Jamaican, Bahamian and growing Hispanic population, has made
basic City information available on its web-site through a translation
link with AltaVista; a major search engine and translation service.
On the City’s home page, at the bottom right corner, a multicolored bar
icon asks the web-site visitor to choose a language. When clicked on,
this takes the visitor to the AltaVista site and an instruction page. If
a connection is not immediately made, pressing the “refresh” icon on the
tool bar usually makes the connection. The instruction page may also be
translated into the various languages with links indicated at the top of
the page. The instruction page goes into the detail of the translation
link and makes these exceptions:
•  Only text, not images, can be translated. For instance, section
titles such as “Departments”, “News”, and “Contact Us” are images.
•  All City official business, such as City Commission agendas and the
minutes of meetings, application forms, registration forms, or public
notices are in a form called PDF which does not allow visitors to the
web-site to change the text. These are not translated.   (more . . .)
CITY WEB-SITE GOES MULTI-LINGUAL     -2-

•  Press releases, which announce the City’s business and related
activities, are also not translated.
•  Advisory Board and Election information not translated.
All other general information in text on the City’s web-site will appear
in the translated form. Event information, news reports, beach
conditions, the City phone and contact directory, From The Mayor’s Desk
(a weekly report to the citizens of Delray Beach), construction and road
closures, job listings, and a wide variety of topics will appear in the
language chosen by the site visitor.
Paraphrasing Deputy Vice Mayor / Commissioner Jon Levinson, “More and
more people are crossing the digital divide and it’s more important than
ever to have understandable information on our web-site.”
For more information, please call Ivan Ladizinsky at  (561) 243-7009.
    MyDelrayBeach. com